birding

Yesterday our sambucus provided habitat for a bird we hadn't seen in our yard before. There were two of them; they bonked their beaks against the branches, looking for bugs. My mother and i can't agree on what it is though, because our three bird books have very different pictures for a variety of species. We do agree that we hope it doesn't start bonking holes in our house. (At least there are no acorns around here--i've seen redwood trees and gazebos jammed full of acorns to the point that they no longer look structurally sound.)

According to one, it looks very much like a ladder-backed woodpecker, but their range is East Coast. It looked a bit like a flicker, except that the back seemed more white with black stripes than black with white stripes. It looked a bit like something else, but because we didn't get a very good view (i had just groggily awoken from a nap, the binocs were downstairs, the sun was in our eyes), i think it had a red head but she thinks it had an orange head--and that makes a big difference! Hopefully we will be better prepared when it comes back and i can add something else to my life-list. Yay!